The present invention relates to a method of making viewpoint changes, and a recording medium and an entertainment system for executing the method, wherein the viewpoint is changed depending on the output of the pressure-sensitive means of a controller to be connected to the entertainment system.
Computers include those that are used as entertainment systems represented primarily by game machines. In such an entertainment system, an operator (user) uses control elements provided on a controller to control the start, progress and end of a game.
The generation of images in the progress of a game is currently performed as follows. Video games, wherein the positions of objects and the like in three-dimensional coordinates are calculated in real time, subjected to perspective transformation into two dimensions, and texture is mapped to the objects subjected to perspective transformation in polygon units, have become the mainstream.
In addition, when the user operates a controller, for example, when the pushing of the same key by the user is repeated multiple times or when a ten-key pad is selected and is pushed corresponding to the viewpoint position, the position of the viewpoint may be switched based on this operation, so the objects and backgrounds and the like viewed from the position of the point of view are found by calculation, and based upon the above processing, the objects are displayed as two-dimensional images on the screen of a television monitor.
In addition, methods of switching the viewpoint include those performed by ON/OFF switches provided on the controller connected to the video game machine, those performed depending on the position of an object moved by the controller, or those performed by turning the switches ON by the user continuously, namely when they are pushed and held by the user, and thus the viewpoint switching is performed continuously.
An example of switching the viewpoint in a game is disclosed in the publication of unexamined Japanese Patent Laid-open Publication No. JP-A-H7-116343.
On the other hand, the so-called pressure-sensitive type controllers are used as input devices for computers, and as input devices for entertainment systems represented by game machines, for example. This pressure-sensitive controller is a unit wherein, when pressure is applied with a finger directly to a control element connected to a pressure-sensitive device, the pushing pressure is provided as output as a pressure-sensitive value. A specific example thereof is, for example, a pressure-sensitive type controller disclosed in the publication of examined Japanese Utility Model Publication No. JP-Y-H1-40545, wherein pressure-sensitive output is provided as input to a VCO (variable control oscillator) and the output of the VCO is used for repeated fire in a game.
It is the object of the present invention to make the viewpoint switching by simple ON/OFF switches easier-to-use for users by utilizing the characteristics of the pressure-sensitive controller.
This and other objects of the present invention are attained by a recording medium on which is recorded a computer-readable and executable software program that performs processing by taking as instructions an output from a controller which has pressure-sensitive means, wherein said software program comprises, in a mode in which a viewpoint of objects within a screen of the computer is switched, switching a position of the viewpoint depending on the output of said controller.
A method of switching the viewpoint according to the present invention comprising the steps of switching the viewpoint of an entertainment system including a controller which has pressure-sensitive means; sensing a pushing pressure of a user on said controller by said pressure-sensitive means which has at least one or more pressure-sensitive buttons, and receiving at said entertainment system a pressure-sensitive output signal corresponding to the said pushing pressure from said controller; and in a mode in which the viewpoint of objects within a screen is switched, switching a position of the viewpoint depending on the pressure-sensitive output signal of said controller.
An entertainment system according to the present invention comprising a controller which has pressure-sensitive means, and at least one or more pressure-sensitive buttons that sense a pushing pressure of a user operating said buttons; means for receiving a pressure-sensitive output signal corresponding to the said pushing pressure from said controller, and, in a mode in which a viewpoint with respect to objects within a screen is switched, switching the position of the viewpoint depending on the pressure-sensitive output signal of said controller.